Rogue Tracer
by The Lord Lash
Summary: When "younger brother" James Raleigh comes into town, he must get to the bottom of an international conspiracy... and find his brother - before it's too late.


Welcome to Moscow.

A banner hung from between two bunks, strung up by shoestring.

The room's lighting was dim. A bare bulb at the doorway and a bare bulb by a side door provided all the lightning for the room.

In the semi-darkness, the shapes of bunks could be made out. At least a dozen. 24 beds in total.

Only two people were in this room.

One was a small teen.

The other was a tall, lanky teen with glasses, who was wearing a neuro-headset.

"Hey, anybody home?" The small teen was standing over the lanky one, waving a hand in front of lanky's face.

No reply. The small teen heaved a bag onto the neighbouring bunk. "Jeez..."

The small teen started unpacking, slipping out a spray can of deodorant. "... what's up with kids now days? They never spend time in the real world..."

"The real world sucks."

That voice belonged to Lanky Teen, who was staring at the flats of the bunk above him.

Small teen continued to ruffle through his bag.

"It's a world where you have to run just to keep your lousy life. But on the web, hard work truly pays off. It doesn't matter who you were born as - with hard work, I could be a faction king. Here, if I worked hard, I could be spending ten hours in a desk." Lanky said to nobody in particular.

Small shrugged. "You have your whole life ahead of you. You're young. It gets better."

"After 20 years of slavery to the system, all that happens is that you stop fighting. You're still a slave. I've seen the real world, and I want a refund."

"Suit yourself." replied small, uncapping the deodorant. He pressed on the lid. A mist escaped.

"Here I thought I was the anti-social jerk." Lanky muttered, pulling a blanket above his head. "Screw this."

* * *

><p>"... James Raleigh, was it?" asked the woman at the desk.<p>

Small teen nodded. Dressed in a gray hoodie and jeans, he was practically anonymous. He flipped his hood down, revealing a rather young face, and closely cropped hair.

"Bad news, we don't have any work for you. Worse news, you have to register for school."

James made a grimace. "Do I have to?"

"It's a stipulation of staying at the Nexus facility." the woman said tonelessly.

"Crap." James cursed under his breath.

James shifted. "Okay, where do I sign?"

* * *

><p>Lanky was still staring into space when James shuffled back into the room. For lack of anything to do, James began to juggle cans of deodorant.<p>

His juggling didn't last long.

The cans fell to the floor all too soon, landing with a thump-thump-thump.

Lanky's head turned toward the noise. "Oh, you again."

Lanky groaned. "Why don't you just go away? Or online? Away preferably."

James shook his head. "I can't. Nowhere to go, and I can't go online with my screwed-up head. Neuro... just doesn't work."

Lanky mumbled something.

James leaned against his bunk. "I don't have time to go online anyways. I'm looking for somebody. My... brother."

Lanky sat up abruptly, lifting his neuro headset. "Your brother?"

"Yeah." James said, staring at Lanky. "Did you know him?"

"Maybe. You look familiar. I need a package ran. Do it and we'll talk." Lanky said, heaving a red transer at James.

James examined it. "Woah, custom firmware."

"Launch The Network, get to where it tells you, and do it well. Don't lose me any stars." Lanky said, putting the neuro headset back on. "I won't be very happy."

* * *

><p>Deja vu. James had seen this street, these buildings, this sky somewhere before.<p>

Then he placed it. "Call of Booty - Urban Whiteout."

An empty bank to his right. A row of abandoned boutiques, untouched for forty years. A closed salon. An imports store. A cigar shop. Completely devoid of vehicles and people, it was the loneliest place in the city.

In front of him, a figure in a red cloak waited.

James glanced at the transer's screen. This was the... pick up zone?

The figure turned to face James, shoving a package into James' arms.

"Hey!" James called after the figure, who'd already disappeared, "Hey?"

Now what...

James glanced back at the transer. Yup, this was the delivery, and it would need to go... twelve blocks that away. Right into Hell's Crater.

He'd heard stories about it.

Now he was going to see it for himself.

* * *

><p>Hell's crater.<p>

Ground Zero of the '88 bombing.

A whole subway line had been cut out. Nobody - nobody sane - ventured to this part of the city. In '88, half of the city had been evacuated. All that remained was Hades' Mall.

Windows had been smashed out. Geiger readings were still at dangerous levels. While it wouldn't kill a person - not right away - the effects of exposure could be deadly. Very deadly.

Entrance 3 went through Fantasyland. Once the world's largest indoor amusement park, it was now a frozen tableu, littered with trash. The entrance bridge ran right through the middle of a roller coaster's loop.

James passed the Space Needle. Surprisingly, all the windows there were intact, the whole 100 vertical feet of them. It was one of those pneumatic towers. You'd strap yourself into a chair, get blasted upwards at 2G, and come down fast enough to taste last week's spring rolls.

To his left was the Cruisin' Blades - car shells mounted on arms of a machine. It would spin, reaching an amazing 160 km/hr. It was one of the last places a person could go that fast outside of flying.

Through the remains of the arcade, and into the mall proper.

The stores had all been looted, completely trashed. A car had been crashed into the headless statue of Peter The Great.

James passed sight after sight. The glass atrium roof had been blown out...

... and somewhere up ahead, just before the subway entrance, was the delivery point.

* * *

><p>The handoff went to a young woman in a toque, who disappeared down the stairs and into the station.<p>

"Miss! That's not safe!" James cried out. His transer started to beep loudly. He ignored it, opting instead to give chase into the blackness.

It was completely dark down here. He'd lost her, and lost himself... in the bowels of Hell's Crater.

He could smell it, smell the sulphur. He could hear screams, the tortured screams of the damned. James turned to go back up the stairs - but they weren't there.

"God..." James mumbled, groping for something solid. There was nothing to find... "What have I gotten into now?"

Then flames began to flare.

He was in a burning ring of fire.

* * *

><p>"Do you know who you work for, human?" The voice was deep. The floor shook as it spoke. "Do you?"<p>

James didn't reply.

"Just as well. That means your employer won't be missing you."

James turned, trying to pinpoint the source. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'll ask the questions... though you seem to know nothing. If you answer my questions, I'll make your death quick..."

"Damn you, who are you?" James queried.

The flames inched closer.

"You could say this is my domain. Who sent you?"

"... I sent myself." James said.

The flames loomed.

James scowled "... I don't know. I was just told to go here."

"Told by whom?"

"This... transer." James replied.

"Where did you get this 'transer'?"

"Somebody gave it to me."

"Who is this somebody?"

"Some kid at the shelter."

"A kid at a shelter."

"Yes." James said curtly.

The flames seemed to get closer and closer.

"Describe this 'kid'."

"Tall, skinny, wore glasses and a neuro headset." James said, his hands bunching into fists.

"Can you be... more descriptive?"

"His hair was thin enough to be stillman's brew. His skin was pale, as if he'd never been outside in his life. His eyes were empty and soulless, enigmas behind black framed glasses. His breath smelled of cherries..."

"Smartass." the voice intoned. "Killin' is too good for you."

"What?"

"I'll just leave you to think. I hope you're more co-operative in the morning." the voice said, fading out.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?" James called out.

There was no reply.

* * *

><p>"I've got to get out of here..." James mumbled to himself. "I can't let it end here... I've got to find Mac."<p>

James reached out, putting a hand into the flames. "F #$!"

He cradled the hand to his chest. Those weren't ordinary flames, the sort that burnt beings of flesh and blood. Those were EM Flames. Somebody was using them. Somebody... close.

"I know you're there! Show yourself!" James ordered.

Nobody came.

"I'm coming out then. Ready or not, here I come!"

James raised a fist to the sky. "Battle form, Kazuki, execute!"

In a flash, he transformed, his body growing taller, his face growing older, his hair growing longer, his clothes shifting into the trademark uniform of Kazuki - the cop without a badge.

"And I'm not holding back!"

Firing a freeze missile from one hand and a water capsule from the other, Kazuki threw himself into the flames...

* * *

><p>... and tumbled into stairs.<p>

He was burnt, no doubt about it. He could feel it, the clothing melding with his skin. He scrambled to his feet, putting his left hand on the rail. He started to run.

He breezed up the stairs, leaning back to duck a chain. He broke into a gallop, leaping a cart. He fired a water capsule behind him, turning a corner into a department store. He kicked a cart backwards, swung around a pole, and darted up a second flight of stairs.

A blue ball formed in his hand. He dropped it behind him, dashing off.

A blue spray formed as the ball exploded, freezing the ground instantly.

Kazuki made for the exit, back into the mall. His legs felt like they were lead. He jumped onto a flight of escalators, spreading his legs over the rail, shooting down back to the main hall.

The mall seemed to explode with activity. Ahead, a figure had an honest-to-god machine gun, finger starting for the trigger. Kaz raised a hand past his ear, and then flicked, sending a knife flying into the figure.

Kaz kicked the figure, grabbed the gun, turned, fired it. He spotted a broom and a cart. He sat the gun in the cart's babyseat, pointed the cart at the escalator, jammed the broomstick into the trigger, and then Kaz was running again.

Running right into Fantasyland. Past the rides, out the entrance.

He started to cough. He stood against the outside wall, and waited for his energy to return.

* * *

><p>"Goddammit, were you trying to get me killed?" James shook Lanky's collar. "Were you?"<p>

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It was a setup! It went right into hell's crater. I nearly burned to death!"

Lanky looked James in the eye. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then who the f# k-"

"But it sounds like The Network has been breached. Gimme my transer."

"Not until you tell me where my brother is, you piece of..." James hands were trembling with rage, James' face just centimetres away from Lanky's. "Tell me and I'm gone."

"Put me down."

James let go. Lanky fell onto the floor with a crack.

"Your... brother... was here a few months ago. He was running packages. He got me into it. I couldn't keep up. He stopped coming to the shelter... was it in May? Yeah..."

James leaned over Lanky. "Not good enough."

"I swear, that's the truth. I haven't been able to reach him on his phone for weeks. He said something about his sister coming to pick him up before he did his last run."

James cursed, turning to kick the bed.

"I just want to forget everything..." whined Lanky. "Leave me alone..."

"I'll take this transer." James said, slipping it into his bag. "It's my only lead now..."

James picked up his bag, stepped over Lanky, and out the door.

Into the night.


End file.
